Employee profile: Alexandre, customs declaration assistant

Tell us about your job as a customs declaration assistant...

At BIMS, we are keen to promote the professionalism of our employees. Today we're giving the floor to Alexandre Beyaert.

            • How did you come to work for BIMS?
"I joined BIMS in August 2022, largely thanks to my BTS teacher. I had a one-month work placement to do in my second year, dedicated to logistics. I had some ideas and I knew I wanted to work in customs, but I wasn't getting any positive responses, or any responses at all, to my applications to various companies. My teacher told me about BIMS, which she'd found on LinkedIn. I sent my application to Élodie and we had an interview. As my work placement went well, I wanted to continue at BIMS but this time on a sandwich course for my bachelor's degree. After that, I decided to stop studying and continue at BIMS. I became a customs declaration assistant in September 2023.

            • What does a typical day look like?
"I start work at 8.30am, checking and sorting the previous day's and this morning's emails to organise the day, printing out the invoices sent, storing them in our customs software and checking whether any changes need to be requested from customers until midday or even the afternoon, depending on the number of invoices to be processed. Once this major part of the work is done, we prepare the files in progress or for the coming days: we check that we have all the documents and information we need to complete our customers' requests. We have a quality control process for our files (conformity of the documents in the file with the customs declaration); I devote the rest of my day to this. At the beginning of each month, I note down the statistics for the previous month (e.g. number of import/export declarations, by customer, with graphical comparisons, etc.) and send them to Élodie, my manager."

            • What qualities do you think are essential?
"You need to be rigorous, logical and adaptable.

            • What drew you to this profession?
"It's a job I didn't know anything about, but when I discovered it I liked it. Firstly because there's diversity in the traffic, with new customers and therefore new processes. You see different products every day, you work with figures, you often learn new things, and there's also the international aspect, which is interesting - English is everywhere. 

            • What do you like best about the company?
"What I like most about BIMS is that we work as a team, all pulling in the same direction and with the same interests in mind. There's good cohesion and a good working atmosphere. The fact that we're a small team also makes for a much friendlier working environment.

            • How do you see the future of your sector?
"Changes in the standards and regulations imposed on third countries in general will place increasing demands on our sector of activity. But above all BREXIT and its implementation, especially as we're on the doorstep of England! Finally, the evolution of society will naturally broaden our impact and our traffic. Everything suggests that we shouldn't be bored in the future (which is already the case today!!)".

...and what about you?

            • What are your hobbies?
"My free time is mainly devoted to sport, especially basketball!I play, I man the scoreboards for the other teams at the club and I'll soon be taking up refereeing again. Otherwise, I'm interested in what's going on in the world, new technologies and financial investment.

            • Which personality inspires you the most?
"I would have quoted Élodie Masset, but she's going to be stolen from us, so I wouldn't really have a precise answer.More seriously, I'd say they're simple people who have done great things like Martin Luther King, Jean Moulin and Simone Veil.

            • Last question, what's your favourite quote?
" "He who dares wins!It's originally a military motto of the 1er RPIMA but I think it's simple and valid in life."